1. Developing Joint Master‘s Programme ―Comparative Social Work‖: Experience and Best Practices
Associate Professor, Dr Elena Golubeva Page 55 2. The Role of E-Learning Tools in Joint Teaching within the Bounds of CSW
Master Programme in BCBU
Head of Department of Social Work, Yuliya Petrovskaya PhD Page 62 3. Combined Training of IT Specialists with the Use of Virtual Campus Tools
Senior Lecturer Evgeny Khaymin Page 66 4. Organizing Olympiads in Virtual Environment
Associate Professor Oleg Lyash, and Senior Lecturer Irina Shungina, Page 72 5. Use of E-Learning Packages Based on Modular Rating Evaluation System in
Distance Learning
Associate Professor Valentina Vasukevich Page 80
6. Evaluating and Grading in Distant Learning Courses
Assistant Professor Arild Steen and Assistant Professor Knut Collin Page 93
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Developing Joint Master‘s Programme
―Comparative Social Work‖: Experience and
Best Practices
Associate Professor, Dr Elena Golubeva Institute of Integral Safety Northern Arctic Federal University
As a result of joining by Russia of the Bologna Convention and of the social changes in the recent decades, the Russian higher education system is now subject to new development trends. One of them is switching by many Russian universities to a two- level (Bachelor and Master) system – a transition that requires major preparation, thorough analysis of optimal paths and creative endeavours to update curricula and methodology.
NArFU Department of Social Work, with its long-standing international relations with North European universities and the University of the Arctic and experience in student and teacher exchange, is not new to the issue of streamlining the degree programs. The work to maintain and develop practical training in social work in Russia started within the framework of 2001-2003 Russian-Finnish project, whose activities included the comparative analysis of the curricula being implemented in the universities in North-West Russia, Lapland, Kuopio (Finland) and countries in transition period Lithuania and Poland. Further projects – ―Social Work and Civil Society in Neighbouring Areas: theory, practice, training and cooperation‖ (2004- 2006, Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Tacis CBC ―Promoting Independent Living of the Elderly in Sparsely Populated Areas‖ (2004-2005, СВС European Commission) – have shaped and strengthened the cooperation between universities. They also served a platform for the Russian lecturers to gain experience in delivering lectures in foreign universities as visiting-professors, as well as to experience new cultures, acquire skills of operating new facilities and publish joint research and methodological materials. Over the years of cooperation with the foreign universities, the practices have been accumulated and analysed as to joint elaboration of research programs, writing and defending the comparative degree papers supervised by international professors and hosting summer international schools in
56 different aspects of social policy and work. The analysis of the curricula for social work students in Russia and abroad has enabled to define the common grounds in identifying the goals and areas of social work training, which target:
the strategic and operating planning and research based on a variety of scientific approaches and methods;
the development of research methods and procedures within the framework of various scientific paradigms (description, explanation and interpretation);
scientific search that takes into account the specifics of the theoretical and practical social work-related studies being implemented in Arkhangelsk Region, North-West Russia, Barents Euro-Arctic Region and across the world;
application of the potential available in Arkhangelsk Region, North-West Russia and Barents Euro-Arctic Region, as well as of the international expertise in social outreach that covers social policy and issues, the support in social adaptation and solutions to the dis-adaptation challenges in a given social environment;
elaboration of the intervention and enrichment programs intended for migrant communities;
cross cultural exchange between social work experts in Arkhangelsk Region, North-West Russia and Barents Euro-Arctic Region;
Participation in legislative initiatives proposed by civil society organizations to improve social policy in the region; etc.
The above activities have shaped the understanding of how the education process should be rearranged according to the new requirements and in line with own methodology, and of the direction we should take to integrate our system into the European dimension and to enhance the graduates‘ competitive power in the labour market through introduction of the internationally recognized joint degree programs and diplomas. The joint degree programs/diplomas may, in turn, enable to:
gather high competence together in the fields where one institution alone is too small/weak;
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increase attractiveness of the study offers and recruit the best students;
develop innovate studies meeting new demands in society;
increase candidates‘ chances in the work market;
increase competence – transfer of knowledge and study approaches;
gain international recognition[1]
At the same time, there are numerous challenges that many universities are facing when developing and implementing the joint programs and among them are: differences in national and institutional legislation, regulations and procedures; high demand in resources; discrepancies in work load standards, academic calendars, application process, admission criteria; coordination of the cooperation and support to students; language barriers, different cultural traditions and ways of life.
It is only through the universities‘ combined effort that the above activities can be successfully implemented – through Barents Cross Border University, a consortium incorporating Universities of Oulu and Lapland, universities in Northern Finland, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk and Arkhangelsk. The joint activities of Barents Cross Border University target:
sustainable social and economic development in Northern Europe;
Cross-Border academic cooperation;
meeting the demand in human resources in the border areas of northern dimension;
introduction of Bologna process in Finland and in Russia;
elaborated PhD programs and comparative research projects;
enhanced multicultural professional skills[2]
The study courses are delivered by Cross Border University in the following formats/methods:
on-line distance learning designed in close cooperation with partner universities; OPTIMA (student‘s personal account and member area for
58 posting study materials and written lectures, discussions); Learn Link (Virtual classroom);
crash courses delivered by visiting lecturer;
summer and winter schools;
student exchange between partner universities and practical training abroad;
jointly supervised master‘s degree theses and joint quality control
The BCBU Master‘s programmes cover four fields: social work, information technology, health and wellbeing, environmental engineering. University matching in each program is based on the participating universities‘ former cooperation and expertise in a given area. These four two-year study programmes are the EU Northern Dimension‘s central priorities. The programs follow the principles of the Bologna process.
Among the most interesting and successful contributions to the universities‘ joint activity are the jointly arranged master‘s programs delivered in the framework of the intensive course in Lapland University (2009), the winter school: ―Social Policy and Human Rights‖ (2010 in Pomor State University, 2012 in Northern (Arctic) Federal University) and Summer school of CBU and BCBU: ―Multidisciplinary Dialogue‖ (2012 in Rovaniemi).The students especially enjoyed the lectures delivered by the Finnish (European) and the Russian teachers and the comparative analysis of problems as seen by Russia and Europe (Finland), which stimulated a detailed multicultural discussion of various aspects of the material delivered and later found reflection in the master theses. In student‘s group report we got: ―We understand how it is important to apply international experience in development of theory and practice of social work.‖ In addition, such schools enabled informal communication setting and were a source of cultural experiences the students gained in museums, clubs and at exhibitions. This, too, is important for understanding cross/intercultural aspects of the social work. ―When you live and think that perfect life is a dream, when you get into the dream, you understand what the reality is. It feels in small things: food in the student canteen is of the best quality, design in and outside the University, amicability and responsiveness of Finnish people.‖ The Video
59 Conferencing facilities that were later installed increased both the audience of these schools and the availability of lectures, and enabled to cut down on travel expenses. When delivering the joint program ―Comparative Social Work‖ in 2009-2011, we came across a number of the system challenges caused by the rigidity of training process that, in turn, results from the strict requirements of the second generation federal education standard in Russia. Moreover, the training process largely lacks integrity and is described as having weak interdisciplinary connections when developing the programs jointly with other institutions, and insufficient academic mobility as compared to the leading foreign universities due to insufficient funding. It has become evident during the first enrolment of students that the administrative practices within the programmes need common development. In this project special attention will be given to the exploitation of information technology in teaching and learning as their development seems important for implementing the master‘s degree and later for the PhD degree education. It is vital that the opportunities for long distance teaching and studying are equal to all countries involved. Because long distances are causing more costs in remote northern areas than in the core of the central Europe, this development requires constant evaluation of the so far piloted programmes in order to identify best administrative and academic practices. A part of the best practices is the connection between working life and academic education. The development of training organisation network promotes the practice training in MA level and also forms a platform for collaborative research and development work especially in research education. There is a need to strengthen the link between teaching and practice. Furthermore, to ensure the quality of education the teacher training especially for practice supervising and English needs own intensive courses. Final goal is to continue the academic development towards Cross-Border PhD programmes in Russia and Finland and the Barents region.
The situation described above is encouraging the universities that participate in the Barents Cross Border University‘s programs to source additional resources and opportunities to perfect the organizational and administrative aspects of the master programs by applying to Kolarctic Cross-Border Cooperation Program. The feedback from master‘s students describes the research and training part of education process as interesting and useful, which is also confirmed by the peer review and the
60 certificate of distinction carried out and issued by the University of the Arctic. The developmental aims in the BCBU + project, for which the application for ENPI CBC is prepared, are part of neighbouring area co-operation between Finland and Russia in education and civil society. They are as follows:
the co-operation between countries in the educational fields of master‘s degree programmes and later PhD programmes are aimed to be stabilized and institutionalized in the spirit of good neighborhood;
the academic co-operation will be implemented according to Bologna process in co-operation with the Russian universities;
special attention is given to the quality assurance in teaching;
the programme aims at increasing teacher and student mobility
The partners of BCBU aim at widening their co-operation more and more towards multidiciplinarity, and they are working together in creating the prerequisites for scientific research in collaboration with neighbour universities in Russia. The role of NGOs is taken into consideration in research activities, especially in the fields where there are already contacts with NGOs in EU countries, Norway and Russia. In the implementation of the project these contacts have a specific role when students have their period of practice and collect research material. The academic development of the above mentioned fields promotes the regional stability and more balanced economic and social development. Social work prevents inequality as well as escalation of the social problems connected with organised crimes; health and wellbeing education helps to prevent the widening of drug abuse and infectious deceases. The graduates and later on the PhDs in five academic fields will be supporting the development of society. Similarly, the project effort to strengthen the research component via PhD is expected to reinforce the Russian universities‘ position in the Arctic in the context of the global educational strategies, while the on- line education tools may boost the appeal of northern areas in the eyes of younger scientists and enable Russian universities to evolve as influential research centers, thus enhancing their graduates‘ competitive power in the international market.
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References
[1] Astrid Elizabeth (Tromso University) presentation in Skolkovo session 27.12.12 [2] Barents Cross-Border University http://www.bcbu.oulu.fi
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The Role of E-Learning Tools in Joint Teaching
within the Bounds of CSW Master Programme in
BCBU
Yuliya Petrovskaya, PhD in sociology, Head of Department of Social Work, Petrozavodsk State University
There was an interesting experience of joint teaching within the bounds of BCBU Comparative Social Work master programme. This experience can be useful for organization of future joint teaching and study process in this MA-programme and others.
The name of joint course is ―Social work with children, youth and families‖. This course was developed by several teachers: Russian teachers (Yuliya Petrovskaya and Svetlana Petoshina) and teachers from Lapland University (Ulla-Maija Rantalaiho and Laitinen Merja). This course is given to second-year master students participating in CSW MA programme and includes three parts:
1. Social work with children; 2. Social work with youth; 3. Social work with families.
The main idea of this joint course is to join and compare Russian and Finnish theory, methodology, practice and problems and construct common scheme or model of social work in this field. Development and teaching of this course implies several lines of cooperation: cooperation between Russian and Finnish teachers, cooperation between teachers and CSW master students and also cooperation between students. This cooperation could be organized in different forms.
Face to face lectures and workshops. This form was used in September 2012
very successfully and was augmented with power point presentations witch were downloaded into OPTIMA. Face to face lectures is traditional type of lectures and still used intensively in Russian pedagogical practice as one of the most effective types of lessons. They are used for presenting new material, concepts to students as a
63 review of some parts of the course, some topics. Material for these lectures are chosen and organized by teacher.
Face to face lectures demand more time and face to face meeting but this contact is valuable for establishing a common vision among students and teachers, between lecturers. Also such kind of contact gives opportunity to pay more attention to each student and to answer all questions. Usually material presented in lectures is more understandable.
Some lectures in the frame of the course ―Social work with children, youth and family‖ were less traditional and included different active forms: discussions, answering question, self-reflection, analysis of situations, etc.
Discussions, consultations, exchange of information by E-mail. This form of
work was used in communication between teachers on the stage of preparing and elaboration of the course. The main task was to develop complex course including several parts. Every part belongs to concrete teacher. Before giving a course teachers should discuss a content of lectures, sequence of themes, tasks for students and their independent study. Also teachers should discuss the main methodological approaches to study of different aspects of concrete social problems. Teachers can exchange some interesting scientific materials.
E-mail consultation can be used in communication between teachers and students. For example students can get consultations doing some study tasks: essays, summaries, tests, etc.
Very useful and easy-to-use way to share study materials is OPTIMA System. It
gives opportunity for teacher to download some materials of lectures, presentations. Students can download their works ad papers on OPTIMA, to send results of their independent work.
One of the most optimal forms of communication during joint teaching is on-line learning and meetings using special programme. For example Adobe Connect Pro. This form of communication combines advantages of face-to-face learning and Virtual communication. It helps to make good contact. Including video and sound this form of communication makes an effect of personal presence. And at the same time
64 it gives an opportunity to give lectures from your office distantly. This form of cooperation between teacher and students at a distance from each other includes all components of study process (aims, content, methods, organizational forms, tools). It permits to reduce travel costs, rental costs. On-line lectures can be given to big number of students. And the main advantage is that distance on-line learning permit to make integrated educational environment.
Adobe Connect Pro is regularly used by teachers form Russia and Finland in the process of developing of MA programme Comparative Social Work. It helps to discuss all scientific, substantial and organizational aspects of MA programme, study process and cooperation. During ADOBE CONNECT-meetings teachers discussed questions connected with study guide, planning of scientific and study events, summer and winter schools within the bounds of BCBU.
The best way of communication within the bounds of joint teaching is combination of different forms of face-to-face and E-Learning. It also helps to develop scientific cooperation between Russian and Finnish teachers and researchers within the bounds of CSW MA programme. This cooperation can be and should be continued for example in common scientific researches, writing of scientific articles, development of common project. E-Learning tools are very useful in this process.
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References
1. Dostoinstva I nedostatki distantsionnogo obucheniya // Advantages and
disadvantages of distance learning // Education: way to success‖ – Ufa. – 2010; 2. Zaichenko T.P. Invariant organizational and didactic system of distance learning.
– SPb: ―Asterion‖, 2004;
3. Zaichenko T.P. Bases of distance learning: theoretical and practical basis. – SPb, 2004;
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Combined Training of IT Specialists with the Use
of Virtual Campus Tools
Senior Lecturer Evgeny Khaymin Institute Mathematics, Information and Space Technologies, Northern Arctic Federal University
Informatization of society poses new requirements on the professional competency of experts dealing with all sorts of ICT applications, which, in turn, manifests itself in informatization of the education sector. To the foreground also comes the necessity to streamline higher education system in the context of Bologna Declaration, i.e. to start applying modular approach to training, to introduce the rating-based assessment system when assessing students‘ academic performance, to update the methodology of training process and to arrange for academic personnel‘s activity in new environment, etc. It is therefore important to further enhance the existing training and re-training system though expanded use of various training formats offered by the multi-level education.
From this perspective, the quality of the programming specialist training largely depends on the trainees‘ ability to make use of present-day search, processing and systematization techniques as a prerequisite of the on-going pursuit of advanced knowledge.
The optimal application of both conventional and on-line technologies is enabled by the blended (combined) training. More and more focus is being laid today on on-line training programs, on fostering students‘ independent work in doing term projects